The Michael Phelps Diet and Gaining Muscle
August 26, 2008
Not sure if everyone has seen this yet, but I thought I would bring out the eating habits of Olympic Champion Michael Phelps and what it can teach us. What this champion eats in one or two days, most people are not eating in a week! 10,000-12,000 calories a day…..Yep, that is not a typo.. Let’s see more about what he is eating as reported by the BBC here….
For breakfast: three fried egg sandwiches, with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, fried onions and mayonnaise, followed by three chocolate-chip pancakes; a five-egg omelette; three sugar-coated slices of French toast and a bowl of grits (a maize-based porridge), washed down with two cups of coffee. For lunch: half a kilogram (one pound) of enriched pasta; two large ham and cheese sandwiches on white bread smothered with mayonnaise, washed down by energy drinks. For dinner: Another half-kilogram of pasta, perhaps with a carbonara sauce, followed by a large pizza and more energy drinks.
Yummy. So who is hungry? Ok…..looking at that above you would expect that to be the diet of some 400lb man right? But he is also doing something that most of us are not…..spending 5-6 hours a day of intense training in and out of the pool. He’s probably burning 1000-1200 calories an hour with his training and then a much higher than normal amount just during rest periods. So now you are asking, what in the world can this teach me about gaining muscle? Well plenty. Most of the people I come across trying to put on some serious muscle or size are all making the 2 same mistakes: they workout too much and eat too little! Looking at Michael Phelps you can see for his activity level that he is lean at 12,000 calories a day, so why then are most people eating 2500 calories and doing an hour of cardio after lifting…..and then really at a loss for why they are not big and huge? I don’t care what “legal” supplements you are using, as you could spend $1000 a month (and some do) on them trying to get muscles and get no results if you are not eating enough. If your goal is to put on some lean muscle then you have to take a serious look at how much you really eat, and how much you are running around. Now I’m not saying that there are not people out there that can train for sports and still put on the muscle, but you better believe that they are eating upwards of 5000+ calories a day to offset high activity level. You need 3 basic things if you want to put on muscle: a workout that simulates muscle building hormones and breaks down muscles, enough daily calories to tell your body to maintain and build new muscle and enough raw materials (protein) to make it happen! You can’t expect to gain size if you are in a serious calorie deficit, your body won’t let you. Here’s some strategies that you will need to employ if you want to gain muscle:
- Eat MORE - When in doubt, this is what you need to do! Now you don’t want to eat all junk food and sugar as you will just end up fat and bloated looking. You want to make sure you are still eating whole foods and healthy calories.
- Limit Cardio - If you are already lean you don’t want to be doing a ton of cardio type of activity is more muscle is your goal (of course this runs hand in hand with eating calories as above). If you want good workouts to get your heart rate up, then do some shorter intervals/more higher intensity training. If your diet is clean you will keep plenty lean while building muscle so you don’t need a ton of “fat burning” activity built in.
- Get Plenty of Protein - You will not put on muscle without that. Most will need at least 1g/lb of lean mass….and many may need upto 1.5g/lb of lean mass. Yes, that is alot of protein but if you want to shock your body out of the current level it is at, sometimes you need to do something extra to force it to grow muscle. It’s harder to “gain” muscle than it is to “maintain” it once you have it, so higher protein intake may be what you need. Here’s a trick (probably the only time I will recommend a protein shake), add in a scoop of protein along with some healthy fats like coconut oil and some nut/almond butter with water…and drink it WITH a meal. See where I said “with a meal”, as this is not a replacement for a whole food meal, but can compliment and get some extra protein and calories in that you need. Whole foods come first, use the protein powder trick as a small addition if need be.
- Get Plenty of Healthy Fats - From eggs, butter, grassfed meats and other sources. Hormones are made from fats, things like Testosterone need a higher fat intake inorder to increase (and will decrease on lower fat diets). Oh yeah let’s no forget fish oil too as that healthy Omega 3 plays a vital role in maintaining and growth of muscle by increasing muscle retention (see this study about the downregulation of muscle protein degredation by EPA) and increasing insulin sensitivity (which only leads to greater gains in muscle growth with the proper post workout nutrition).
- Train the Right Way with Weights - Don’t lift everyday and expect to have big muscles (unless you are taking steroids). If you want to go to the gym everyday, then you will look like most people at the gym. If you want to pack on muscle then you need to lift 2-3x a week and then rest/eat and let your muscles grow….as remember this: “Muscles do NOT grow in the gym”. Lifting weights is only a stimulus for muscle growth, you are ripping and breaking them down….so they can build back up later. Forget machine and isolation workouts too, you need to be doing compound movements like squat, deadlift, pullups, dips with resistance (reps 5-10) if you expect to grow.
So there you have it….what an Olympic champion eating 12,000 calories a day can teach you about gaining muscle. When in doubt eat more, workout less…..that’s the motto I use to remind people how simple it really is, as most are looking in all the wrong places for the answers. Forget about supplements, forget about lifting weights everyday, just learn how to eat enough whole foods and workout a couple times a week for muscle gain. Supplements will only enhance the gains you are making, but you should already be making gains before you even start using them.
Pretty soon I will have available a solid 12 week muscle building program using some of the top methods out there in the most simple and layed out method possible. Stay tuned. If you want more reading on muscle building you can also see the Muscle Building 101 post.
Note: From a longevity point of view, you of course don’t want to be doing excess intense exercise and eating a ton of calories (as we seen from the CR models and the reduction of oxidative stress/damage at the cellular level which can speed up the aging process). But to gain muscle you need to tackle it head on and need to just do a short term bout of high calories (the right kind). Like I said above, it’s alot easier to maintain your muscle once you already have it….but it will take some effort to pack it on if you don’t have it. So get serious, focus on the things that matter and just make it happen.
Above photo by RoslanTangah
Excellent article. I think it’s still hard for folks to get their minds around this concept. I don’t know how Michael can jump into a pool after eating all that but obviously he can. I was surprised by all the sugar and white bread. If I were an olympic athlete (and male—implying I would have a higher caloric rate) I would probably eat a lot of steak, sushi, protein shakes, and a jar of nut butter a day, I don’t think I’d waste my calories on white bread. I imagine though he probably has to chose food he can down quickly.
Patricia - Ha, the old rule of waiting hours before swimming right? Well he only has 3 meals a day…and I am guessing they are well spaced apart from training. His training is so extreme that he just sucks up all the sugar into his muscles to use again…and he needs lots of muscle glycogen too as all his training is explosive. Now again, long term not ideal for health as it will increase insulin resistance/oxidative stress/inflammation and other risks for degenerative diseases such as heart disease and cancer (which you will see many older professional athletes can suffer from no matter what “shape” they are in). But he’s young and most of the athletes that do this are usually finished with their careers by 30 something…so the damage is probably minimal (as most also supplement with high levels of anti-oxidants), his body can recover and he can return to a normal healthy eating diet after that to maintain his health going forward. It’s the ex-athletes that continue the same eating patterns while they stop training that end up ballooning up 50-100+ lbs and then are in worse health.
Wow, that is just about the worst list of food I could even imagine. This guy get’s gold medals like they are going out of style but comes last for nutrition. Garbage.
Yes! Mike, awesome write-up. With your permission, I’m going to link back to this in the Girl Power thread on the CrossFit Boards. I find this concept is a much harder sell to women trying to gain strength and build muscle, but it’s what I’ve been preaching ever since I had the “light bulb” moment and realized how much this all makes sense: lift heavy, eat more, rest well.
gaucoin - sadly most young (and many older) professional athletes eat like that….but they “get away” with it because of high training volume. But they will suffer down the road with performance and health if they continue like that.
Melissa - Yes that simple concept is most all people need…and you don’t have to eat 10,000+ calories a day to get there. You always have my permission to link to anything on here.
My ‘heavy’ clients almost never believe me, but I find it much harder to add lasting muscle mass to an ectomorph’s frame than to help an endomorph drop 20 lbs.
You hit the nail square on the head when you said…”When in doubt eat more, workout less”
There are lots of training techniques, supplements and nutrition plans to maximize muscle production, but when it comes down to it, they are all variations on this theme
Eat more and move less
Looking forward to reading the new program
DR - Yeah you are right, it is easier to drop 10lbs…than add it. You can go into a small cal deficit and stay active and lose weight…but man it takes some work to shovel in the calories needed to put on real lasting muscle. That and there are ways and cycles to make sure that you are gaining muscle, and not fat. In the end….most people just don’t eat enough to tell their body to put on “muscle”…anyone can put on “weight” (most of it usually being fat that is).
Excellent article and explanation on gaining muscle. When I began working out a few years ago, I was doing everything wrong. And what I became was what I call skinny-fat. I lost a lot of weight, but it was muscle that I lost. I was still fat underneath it all. Once I realized the importance of proper nutrition and resistance training, my body began the transformation I was hoping for.
Hmm. Im not sure coconut oil is really a “healthy” fat. It has about the highest percentage of bad fats of any oil there is.
Coconut oil is a healthy fat. Which bad fats are you talking about?
Let’s take a look at the healing properties of coconut oil:
“Coconut oil is antiviral, antifungal (kills yeast too) and antibacterial. It attacks and kills viruses that have a lipid (fatty) coating, such as herpes, HIV, hepatitis C, the flu, and mononucleosis. It kills the bacteria that cause pneumonia, sore throats, dental cavities, urinary tract infections, meningitis, gonorrhea, food poisoning, pneumonia, and many, many more bacterial infections. It kills the fungus/yeast infections that cause candida, ringworm, athletes foot, thrush, jock itch, diaper rash and more.
Coconut oil is called the “low fat” fat. It actually acts like a carbohydrate in that it is quickly broken down in the liver and used as quick energy. It is NOT stored like other fats. It boosts one’s energy and endurance. Many athletes use it blended into their drinks. It also supports thyroid function and increases your metabolism (great if you want to lose weight).
Coconut oil improves digestion and absorption of fat soluble vitamins, minerals (especially calcium and magnesium), and amino acids. It improves the body’s use of blood glucose and improves insulin secretion and absorption (great for type II diabetes). In fact, many diabetics (type I and type II) use it to reduce their symptoms. One’s risk of diabetes decreases with regular use of coconuts and coconut oil. And as we already mentioned, cooking with coconut oil does not create any harmful byproducts.
Coconut oil helps the body heal and repair faster. It aids and supports immune function, protecting us from a variety of cancers.
Coconut oil, contrary to much hubbub, is good for your heart. It keeps our blood platelets from sticking together (and causing dangerous clots). Regular users of coconut oils have a much lower chance of atherosclerosis (clogging of the arteries), arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), and strokes. Coconut oil can lower your blood pressure.
Coconut oil is a natural antioxidant. It protects the body from free radical damage and prevents premature aging and degenerative diseases.
Finally, coconut oil is the best massage oil on the planet. What it does to your skin, you simply have to witness. It forms a barrier against infections, softens and moisturizes your skin, and prevents wrinkling, sagging, and age spots. It promotes healthy hair and complexion, protects from any damaging UV rays.”
Bruce tells us that 50% of coconut oil is lauric acid. The only other good source of lauric acid is mother’s milk.
http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/nutrition/coconut.htm
Dave - don’t believe the whole “sat fat is bad for you” line….it’s based on sloppy science conclusions and medical gossip at best. Here’s a MUST read article on fats: http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/skinny.html
Here’s another good read on it: http://www.fitnessspotlight.net/2008/08/07/fatsthe-real-story-and-why-you-need-them/
Coconut oil is also very healthy for those with thyroid issues.
Great comments here. Melissa, I’m going to check out that Girl Power thread.
In regards to coconut oil, even thought I’m thin I am hypothyroid. I take a couple of TBS of coconut oil a day. I have to say it’s made an improvement. I no longer feel as cold and my skin is less dry.
I wish I could eat like that. Although, I don’t have time to train for that many hours a day. Its pretty incredible that his body can even process and burn that many calories in a day.
http://www.paunchiness.com/win-an-apple-ipod-shuffle/
Patricia - Yes coconut oil can help with low thyroid function, and since your skin is made from fat on the cell membranes, it only makes more sense that a higher healthy fat intake will also help the cellular structures of the skin cells.
Paunch - I have no desire to eat like that, as that is not really enjoying food. You can enjoy some of what he eats in smaller portions, but to think I want to eat 10,000 cal a day is just taking away from any health or longevity goals. We can all enjoy food, responsibly…but I don’t think I am missing out on anything looking at that diet….which is the right mindset people need for long term success, no thinking they are missing out on anything with their healthy eating habits.
Mike,
It really is that simple isn’t it?
I’ve got a couple friends who people would call “hard gainers” but it’s not that at all, it’s usually two things:
1. They don’t work out hard enough (don’t want to do squats, etc) and then when they do…
2. They won’t eat enough! They complain about not being hungry.
And even complain about carrying around a protein shake and sipping it all day.
But it’s true you gotta eat if you’re gonna grow!
Later!
Caleb
Caleb - Yep, as I say….there is no such thing as a hardgainer…that’s just an excuse….the truth is just someone who is skinny and not eating enough (as big guys eat eat eat). Anything is possible, people just need to take the right actions.
Mike,
Great article! And just what I needed to hear. I am always so confused when it comes to eating/lifting. Once I made the switch from CrossFit/more aerobic condition to full time olympic weightlifting, my body obviously needed something different. I’m still trying to figure out how I should eat (I recently ditched Zone) and am still unsure of how much I should be eating!
What do you recommend for a full time lifter? I lift 4-5 days a week, and throw in some sprints/soccer a couple days as well. I’m always looking for opinions …
Rachel - 4-5x a week is alot, but I imagine you are getting in plenty of rest between sets right? You may want to try a Warrior Diet/IF spin where you eat small (or fast) during the day, lift (assuming it is at night) and then eat bigger meal(s) for dinner. I like that as the smaller meal/fast keeps my energy steady and can also help with performance…as you know how tired and weighed down you can feel after big meals. In the end, play around and you will find what does work for you.